This article is short and straight to the point. It is not earth-shattering information, so do not get your hopes too high. It is common sense, and all of us knows it. Or at least should be common sense.

ACTIVE LEARNING

The title says it all. When learning to code, like any other practical skill, you need to practice, practice, practice. You do not need to memorise a vast amount of information. You need to do practical work. Not earth-shattering news, right? 

Yet, guess what? Most of the people avoid active learning. Most of the people spend 90% of the time watching tutorials. They are copying what the instructor does instead of building stuff themselves. They spend the other 10% on coding. What do you think the result is? They forget most of the information shortly.

That results in wasted money and wasted time. The money is not a problem because you make them back. But can you get your time back?

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY THEN

The best way of learning programming is to do practical work, and nobody can contest this. Build projects of your own. Of course, at first, you still need to complete a tutorial to nail the basics down, but after that, you are good to go.

Did you buy a tutorial? That’s great. Instead of copying what the instructor does, use the concepts to build something different. For instance, I watched the CSS Grid and Flexbox courses from Wesbos, but I developed something different. I used the concepts taught to build different things. Or, while watching the courses, I would pause the videos and try to do it ahead of Wes. 

Also, instead of being tempted to buy a tutorial, Google until you get sick. Do you want to build a responsive website? Google “how to build a responsive website”. Do you want to create a GraphQl application? Google “how to build a simple GraphQl application”.  Is there any documentation? Use it. You get the idea. Do not be tempted to get the easy road – being spoon-fed by someone else.

CONCLUSION

What did I tell you? The information from this article is not mind-blowing. It is common sense. If you want to learn to code, the only way is to practice a lot. In this field, it is impossible to learn by watching videos. 

Learn the basics, and start building projects by Googling stuff. Did you buy a tutorial? Not a problem. Use the concepts from the tutorial and create different things.